Challenged
by SydneyAnneVaughn
Summary: Entry for the Summer Sarkney Challenge


**Challenged **

**By: **Eva Marie Rayne  
**Rating: **PG  
**Ship: **Sarkney  
**POV: **Sydney  
**Background: **S3, Sydney's had her missing 2 years but The Covenant wasn't behind it. She knows what happened and Vaughn & Lauren are married.  
**Summary: **You think you know, but you have no idea…

I'd been back for 2 weeks now. All that's changed is that I've been gone for 2 years. TWO YEARS. Vaughn's married. Her name is Lauren Reed. Well, I think she still goes by her maiden name. She's blonde, English, and an NSC liaison. I hate her already.

I watched the two of them as they greeted each other for another day. They were married and lived in the same house, slept in the same bed every night and woke up to each other every morning, but they felt the need to make a big display in front of everyone. I've known her for 2 weeks now and I still hate her.

I decided this disgusting display was just too much for me, so I went to find a familiar face. I went a short way across the rotunda, poking my head into Weiss's cubicle.

"Have you seen Julian?" I asked.

It turns out that while I was gone, Julian Sark had become a somewhat permanent fixture here at the JTF. He'd obtained a pardon, much in the same way Sloane had. The only difference with Sark's pardon was that he had to work exclusively for the CIA. It wasn't that bad of a deal because I was really starting to find him charming.

"I think he's over in Marshall's office." Weiss replied.

"Thanks!" I said, giving him a little wave and turning to leave.

"Sydney, wait." He said. I stopped in my tracks and came back to his cubicle.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Of course I am." I replied.

"Well, you're asking the whereabouts of Julian Sark." He said.

"Is it odd to wanna know where my new partner is?" I asked.

"I guess not, but Syd, you guys used to hate each other."

"And now we have to work together. We have to get along for everything to go smoothly." I said.

"That's not what you said when Sloane was part of a similar equation. I was there, remember?" Weiss protested.

"And Arvin Sloane is dead!" I said defensively, "I'll be in Marshall's office if anyone needs me."

And with that, I went. I sneaked into Marshall's office, seeing Marshall discussing the use of a particular tech device with Julian.

"Hello Sydney." Julian said, noticing my entrance.

"Don't let me interrupt." I said with a smile.

Both men nodded and went back to their discussion as I sat back, thinking about how much being around Julian made me smile. I was like a lovestruck teenager around him. My face always felt flushed when he smiled at me, I always got sweaty palms when I talked to him, and so on.

The discussion lasted another few moments before Julian ended it, citing respect for my presence. Marshall nodded and began saying something about having to talk to Carrie before he left the office in a flurry of unfinished sentences and mumbled words.

"That was an interesting discussion." I said as Julian walked over to me. Oh god, here come the sweaty palms again…

"It was just one of those Marshall moments. I wonder how you people ever get him to stop talking." Julian replied.

I smiled as he stood closer to me. I could feel this magnetic force between us. He kept getting closer and closer until he kissed me. He kissed me. I mean, we kissed. Well, I kissed him back. Is that distinction irrelevant? Wait, why do I care about irrelevance of distinction?

The moment was broken when Lauren came in, looking for a disc Marshall left for her.

"Excuse me. I was just looking for a disc that Mr. Lindsey requested." She said, flustered.

"I think he left it over here." Julian said, pointing out the location of said disc.

"Thank you." She said, looking between us with disgust. Crap. She's gonna tell everyone. And by everyone, I mean Vaughn.

Julian and I looked at each other, wondering what just happened. I shrugged and smiled, kissing him on the cheek.

"Do you wanna go to dinner sometime?" I asked. He thought a moment before answering.

"That sounds wonderful." He replied with a smile.

I walked out of Marshall's office with a smile, but quickly frowned at the sight before me. Lauren was perched on Vaughn's desk, running her hands through his hair and just constantly touching him lovingly as they talked. I saw her laugh and I saw him smile. God, he gave her that smile that was once only for me. I felt my eyes well up with tears before quickly walking away to Weiss's cubicle.

"Remember when I said I was okay?" I said, rounding the corner to Weiss's cubicle, "I lied."

"Syd, what's wrong?" he asked.

"A lot of things." I replied, "Things are just so very screwed up."

"Well, if any of this has to do with Vaughn or Lauren, I think you should shove their heads in a toilet or something." He said, trying to make me laugh.

"There's something else." I said.

"Sheesh, you've got more issues than a year of Entertainment Weekly." He said as I frowned, "What is it?"

"Sark kissed me." I said, "Well I didn't stop him and it was actually kinda nice."

"Oh, please tell me you're not…" he began.

"I think I am." I replied, "I asked him to dinner."

"Syd, I know you're still hung up on Mike but don't get caught up on Sark as a rebound or revenge thing." He said, "Why don't we stay in tonight? We can order pizza, bond over tequila, and just forget all our problems like always."

"Actually, I have other plans. I think I'm gonna do dinner tonight with Julian." I replied.

"Why do you always call him Sark when something weird happens, then call him Julian when you're being stubborn?" he asked.

"I like to be eloquent when I make a point." I replied.

"You didn't answer the Sark part of the question." He said.

"We can talk about it later." I replied.

"Fine, fine. But you know you're gonna have to tell me all about your diner date tomorrow." He said.

"Did I ever mention that you're as bad as Carrie, if not worse?" I asked.

"You're getting really good at those compliments, Syd." He replied teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna go talk to my dad." I said, poking him in the ribs.

"Hey! Poking isn't nice, yunno." He yelped.

"So learn to be nice to me." I said, getting up, "Now I'm gonna go talk to my dad. I'll see you later."

I walked over to my dad's office, noticing that Julian was there. They looked like they were talking about something when all of a sudden, my dad hugged him. HE HUGGED JULIAN SARK!

**Sark POV**

"Mr. Bristow, I assure you Sydney and I are nothing more than good friends." I said, hoping he couldn't tell I was lying through my teeth.

"Listen to me Mr. Sark…" he began before he looked over at the glass door to see Sydney standing outside, watching us. He quickly pulled me into a hug.

"If I find out you ever had relations with my daughter, I will not hesitate to remove you from her life. Is that understood?" he said. I nodded as he let me go.

I looked through the door, seeing the shocked reaction on Sydney's face. I just smiled and left Jack's office to join her.

**Sydney POV**

"What was that all about?" I asked, shocked as we walked over to mine & Vaughn's old corner.

"Despite what you think, your father's actually taken a liking to me." He replied.

"You're lying." I said.

"What makes you think I'd lie to you?" he asked, appalled.

"Your eyes got dark. Your eyes always get dark when you're lying." I replied, pointing at his gorgeous blue eyes.

"I knew two years was too long to let you observe my habits." He said.

"Shhh!" I said, quieting him, "No one knows about why I was gone those 2 years. I told them I didn't remember what happened."

"Now who's a liar?" he asked mockingly.

"Shut up. Look, just meet me here after work." I said, handing him a post-it with an address scribbled on it. I saw a wicked gleam in his eye as he realised what was at that address.

"Looks like I can get some shopping done." He said.

"Whatever." I replied, "Just meet me there and then maybe we can go to dinner later tonight. And maybe something else afterward…" I raised my eyebrows for emphasis. He smiled wickedly and leaned in to kiss me, but I stopped him.

"What's wrong, love?" he asked.

"You kissed me earlier. That's not good." I replied.

"Then you have a twisted sense of relationships." He said.

"No, you aren't supposed to do stuff like that at work. We're supposed to act like we're not attracted to each other." I responded.

"So I'm not supposed to kiss you?" he asked.

"Well, you can NOW. I told Weiss what happened while conveniently leaving out the real truth in a bunch of girlish nonsense." I replied.

"You told Agent Weiss?" he asked, surprised.

"I had to. It would get around sooner or later."

"But you could spend the time while it was getting around to think of a good story." He said, "Or you could leave the CIA like you did the last 2 years and come back to London with me."

"You know I want nothing more than that, but people were searching too hard into my disappearance. They almost found us once, remember?"

"I know, but we could've gone somewhere else. Anywhere. Paris, Rome, Athens, Tokyo. You know that." He replied.

"We both had to come back. It was that simple. My dad was falling into serious depression, Weiss was worried sick, Vaughn apparently didn't care at all…I had no other choice." I said, "But the first week we get off from work, I wanna go back to London."

"Anything for you." He replied, taking me in his arms and kissing the top of my head softly. I disentangled myself from him and gave him a sweet kiss.

"To last until we see each other after work." I said with a smile. He nodded and we left the 'flirting corner,' going back to our jobs.

We both left the JTF about the same time and took different routes to the address I specified. I got out of my car in front of the small boutique, my skin slick from sweat. This summer heat was becoming too much, but part of me didn't mind the heat, remembering the things that happen when it's this hot. I felt my face flush and decided to go into the shop before someone saw me.

I was looking at a rack of bras when I saw him come in. He noticed me immediately, and came back to look at a rack of undergarments adjacent to the one I was browsing. I stopped looking and grabbed his arm, pulling him into a searing kiss.

"Well hello to you too." He said with a grin. He picked up a random hanger and showed it to me with a questioning look on his face.

"I like butterflies, but I also like my underwear to have a little more fabric in the back." I said with a laugh.

He picked up another hanger and went to the register, leaving me in the middle of the racks of lingerie. I didn't ask any questions, I just followed him out once the cashier handed him a bag. I blew him a quick kiss as I got in my car, heading back to my new apartment I shared with him.

He arrived a few minutes after I did, carrying the bag from the boutique with him. I went over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him passionately.

"I've wanted to do that all day." I said, "So what did you get?"

"Something I'll show you later." He replied.

"Fine." I said, pouting.

"You're sexy when you pout, did you know that?" he asked with a grin.

"I hoped it would work on you somehow." I replied, kissing him again.

"The CIA is sending me on a mission tomorrow." He said, breaking the kiss.

"Really?" I asked.

"Apparently there's an operative for this group called The Covenant that they want information from." He replied.

"Do I get to tag along?" I asked.

"They want you on comms with me." He replied.

"Good." I said, kissing him again.

"Don't you want to know what the mission is about?" he asked.

"You said the agency wants information from this guy from The Covenant. That's plenty for me. Besides, we'll go over mission specs tomorrow during briefing." I replied, "Now, let's find out what you've got there."

I grabbed his tie, dragging him back to the bedroom. Many frantic kisses and shed pieces of clothing later, we were sleeping peacefully. My alarm woke us up at 8:00am, like always, for another day of work.

We took our shower together, with a little distraction added in, before we both got dressed and took our separate ways to the JTF. He arrived a few minutes before me, and was waiting for me in the briefing room.

"Agents, this is Pavlov Gordova. He's a high ranking member of a group called The Covenant. They're a group mostly made up of Russian nationals and ex-KGB. Finding out as much information about them as we can is our top priority. Sark, you'll be on point for this one; Sydney, you'll be on comms." Dixon said, "Mr. Gordova regularly visits the Saint Maria de la Paz Cathedral in southern Rome every Sunday ay 3:30pm for Confession with a Covenant agent posing as a priest. Sark, you'll pose as the priest and get Gordova to tell you what the Covenant's plans are. That's all. You leave tonight." We were all dismissed so Julian and I went home to prepare for the upcoming mission.

"He's not serious." Julian said once he came though the door.

"I think you as a priest is just funny. Although, I'd think you'd get struck by lightning for setting foot in a church. And it's a Catholic church at that." I replied with a laugh.

"I think I'll need quite a few weeks off after this." He said, holding up the hanger with his disguise. I took one look at it and busted out laughing.

"I think I'll never look at you the same after I see you in that." I said, still laughing.

"Thank you so much for your comforting words of support Sydney." He said.

"Anything for you." I said, taking the hanger from him. I tossed it across the room and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him passionately.

**_Fin._**


End file.
